A Night with Buddha in collaboration with Safe Havens Freedom Talks and Teater DOS, arranged three discussions for seeking an alternative narrative related to what is happening in Afghanistan with a special focus on destroying world cultural heritage in Bamiyan. The objective of the project is to explore the social injustice and political inequality at the narrative level from different dimensions.

Destroying History: Urbicide and the Erasure of Cultural Heritage in Bamiyan

In 2001, the Taliban shocked the world by demolishing the iconic Buddha statues of Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Yet, violence in Bamiyan is not new; the valley has long documented its own history of devastation. Upon entering the city, the empty niches on the cliffs serve as stark reminders of this destruction—not just of the statues but of an entire cultural and urban identity. The annihilation of the Bamiyan Buddhas stands as one of the most egregious cultural crimes in recent memory, symbolizing a broader cultural genocide against the region’s rich heritage.

Moderator: Asad Buda (Afghan writer)
Guests:

• Abdullah Mohammadi (researcher, Mixed Migration Centre, Asia Region)

• Dr. Ali Karimi (Postdoctoral Fellow, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania)

Unjust Narratives: The Absence of Hazara Voices in Public Discourse

Discrimination and inequality often begin with the stories we tell—or fail to tell. National and international narratives about Afghanistan frequently perpetuate injustice by ignoring its diversity, marginalizing social minorities, and silencing differences. These narratives misrepresent the country's complexity, fostering epistemic ignorance and enabling social exclusion, structural prejudice, and systemic discrimination.

In this session, Afghan writer Asad Buda and Dr. Homira Rezai, Chair of the Hazara Committee in the UK, explored the impact of unjust public discourse and the consequences of erasing Hazara voices from Afghanistan’s story.

Intersectionality Matters: Rethinking Gender Discourse in Afghanistan

Mainstream gender analysis in Afghanistan often treats gender as a singular, monolithic structure: men oppressing women. However, this oversimplification overlooks the country’s ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity and the historical power imbalances within these groups. This narrow perspective creates two key problems. It fails to recognize how gender intersects with ethnic, religious, and cultural identities to shape distinct experiences for Afghan women. It excludes women from historically marginalized ethnic and religious groups, leaving their struggles invisible in mainstream gender discourse.

Moderator: Asad Buda (Afghan writer)
Guests:

• Anis Rezaei (MPhil candidate, University of Oxford)

• Sitarah Mohammadi (Guardian Australia contributor and legal researcher, Afghanistan Human Rights Democracy Organisation)